Easter 2020 April 12, 2020

Seeing the Risen Jesus John 20:1-18

Christ’s Resurrection is Rational The dead do not rise on their own. We can resuscitate someone if we start using life saving measures early enough but we cannot bring someone back after they have been dead for days. So, what is a rational person to make of the resurrection of Christ? On the surface, the claim that Jesus is risen from the dead seems irrational. One might think that Mary Magdalene and the disciples must have made it all up; they were liars. But what rational person would believe them? If they were not liars, maybe their grief made them hysterical and delusional, ready to believe the impossible. Perhaps they created a mythology around Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, not necessarily expecting anyone to believe in the literal narratives of his miracles, his resurrection included, but intending to preserve the themes and teachings of his movement. These are some of the conclusions that people arrive at when considering the resurrection of Jesus. Perhaps you are or once were someone who did not believe in Christ’s resurrection. Maybe you know someone who believes it is impossible and, therefore, irrational.

John 20:1-18 gives us some pieces of evidence to help us see that this is not the case. One such piece of evidence that supports the veracity of the narrative is the fact that Mary Magdalene was the first witness to find the tomb empty and to encounter Jesus. If a first century person or group of people wanted to get others to believe that their leader had been miraculously raised from the dead they would not have based their evidence on the testimony of just one person, much less a woman. In that time, women were not eligible to testify in Jewish court. In the second century, Celsus, a Greek critic of Christianity, openly mocked the doctrine of the resurrection in part for its dependence upon the witness of Mary Magdalene, whom he called a “hysterical female... deluded by... sorcery.” Yet, the Mary we see in John 20 is not hysterical but is a very rational person. Upon finding the tomb empty, her initial conclusion was that someone had taken Jesus’ body. Upon first seeing Jesus, not expecting to find him risen, she mistook him for the gardener and assumed that he had moved Jesus’ body somewhere else. These are not unreasonable thoughts and actions at all. No, the evidence suggests that she came to believe that Christ was resurrected because she saw the risen Jesus! (I will point out some other evidences from the text during my sermon.)

Christ’s Resurrection is Necessary A good author knows how to introduce themes and motifs early and often in his story, which he will then bring to a fulfilling conclusion by the end of his narrative. The same is true in salvation history, the author of which is God himself. One key theme in the story of redemption is that of creation. Jesus died on the cross on Friday, the sixth day of the Jewish week and the day before the Sabbath. His last words on that day were, “It is finished,” (19:30) in reference to the atonement he accomplished. With Christ’s death, God’s wrath against his people because of their sin was satisfied. Jesus’ resurrection was on the first day of the week (John 20:1), which signifies that his resurrection is the beginning of the New Creation; the old has gone with his death and the new has come with his being alive again. Another allusion to the New Creation is seen in the note about it being “dark” when Mary Magdalene first arrived. By the end of the passage, Jesus the Light of the World would shine upon Mary, proving that the darkness of death did not overcome him (John 1:4-5; 8:12). A third creation allusion may be

Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic,

“Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my

God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went and announced to

the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these

things to her.

~ John 20:16-18

Easter 2020 April 12, 2020

seen in the fact that Mary mistook Jesus for the gardener. The tomb in which he was laid was within a garden (19:41), so this is an understandable mistake on her part. More to the point theologically, the original creation saw Adam placed in a garden that he was to tend and from which he was to rule and subdue the earth. Now the risen Jesus stands in the place of Adam, having defeated the enemies of sin and death that Adam let into the world in the first place. Christ, like Adam before, has begun his rule in a garden. The good news is that Jesus will be faithful to oversee his New Creation to completion and into eternity.

The resurrection is not just a clever piece of writing on God’s part, but a necessary event to historically and theologically right the wrongs of sin and death, which tainted the first creation.

The Risen Jesus is Merciful and Missional Mary entered the tomb after Peter and John (the disciple Jesus loved) had left. She was still grieving; probably confused. When she went in she saw two angels, one at the head and one at the foot of where Jesus had been laid. The image alludes to the holy of Holies, the inner sanctum of the temple, where the mercy seat had once sat atop the Ark of the Covenant. Two golden cherubim formed that mercy seat with their outstretched wings. Here was Mary Magdalene, no high priest, coming into the tomb of Jesus. She would receive the mercy of God here. She did not understand that Jesus had risen, though he certainly had told his followers that it would be so. She did not recognize him when he came to her. However, instead of chastising her, Jesus

mercifully brought her to the point of recognition, calling her by name, being her good shepherd (John 10:3). So it is with Jesus. When he comes to us in his Word and by his Spirit we do not always recognize the truth of his person and work. But he is patient and merciful toward us. He gently leads us as a shepherd his sheep, calling us by name until we recognize him more and more.

Having shown Mary his mercy he then called her to mission. She became the first evangelist, being sent by Jesus to testify to the disciples, his brothers, that he was risen and in the process of ascending to his Father and to their Father, to his God and to their God (v. 17). Jesus never saves us to then go back to our old life. Rather, he redeems us, brings us to recognition of who he is and what he’s done, to then send us on mission. For Mary it was a mission to tell the disciples the good news. For some of us it is to tell our family, friends, and neighbors. For others of us it may be a mission to a foreign place and to unfamiliar people. Make no mistake, if you have seen the risen Jesus he is sending you to someone to tell them this good news.

Application and Discussion Do you believe that Jesus Christ was dead and is risen? If so, what are some of the evidences that have been helpful to your faith?If not, why not?Why is Christ’s resurrection theologically necessary for redemptive history? Explore some key themes, those mentioned in the sermon as well as others.In what ways does Christ’s mercy toward Mary Magdalene give you encouragement for those times that you do not clearly “see Jesus”?In what ways does the resurrection of Jesus give you courage to embrace the mission he has given you, your family, and your church?